


Smitten

by xikra1648



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Cramps, F/M, Fluff, Menstruation, Sorceress Reader, just cute fluff, that's all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 19:56:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16248749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xikra1648/pseuds/xikra1648
Summary: Peter had been smitten for years, since high school, but he couldn't bring himself to actually say anything.  It was so obvious even he noticed just how deep he'd fallen.  Still, you'd dated other guys and that was enough for Peter to step back, keeping his feelings to himself.  Between your discovery of your bloodline and constant training to get your natural skills with magic under control, you had enough to worry about.  He'd rather remain friends than risk losing you, but that couldn't last forever.





	Smitten

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something happy and not-angsty because I've written a lot of angst for Peter and he deserves better.
> 
> I also started writing this when I was suffering from my own cramps and craving tacos from my favorite Mexican place in town.

# Smitten

You first met many, many years ago when he first moved in with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.  With how young he was, at first he thought it was an exciting sleepover with his favorite uncle, but as the days passed it began to click that his mom wasn’t coming to get him.  He sobbed for days, and his aunt desperately asked the woman two floors up if she would bring her daughter – you – to play.  She hoped making a new friend, a friend so easily accessible, would help Peter feel at home.  He had previously been living in a suburban neighborhood with a lot of kids his age, and if they could afford it Ben and May would move to a similar neighborhood for their orphaned nephew.

He was mopey as you tried to play with him, your favorite toy being the spaceship from the giftshop at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.  You never let anyone else touch it, but you had offered the sad boy a chance to play with your beloved toy.  When he sniffled and shook his head, you were irritated that your new friend wasn’t cooperating.

So, naturally, you thumped him over the head.

You’ve been best friends ever since.

Years later, after almost twenty years of friendship that included high school drama, bad dates, and a _frightening_ number of _superheroes_ you were crammed in a tiny two-room apartment with Peter and Ned.  They shared the larger room while you had the smaller room to yourself, MJ was quite comfortable in the student dorms – specifically the large suite she shared with a few other girls where everyone had their own room.  She’d often stop by, but she needed her own space and the tiny apartment you shared with the boys didn’t quite allow for that.

Most of the time you didn’t much care, you and Ned were nearby when Peter would crawl through one of the windows after a long night on patrol and the boys were close when you’d practically fall through a portal you opened to make your way home after a _long_ day of training at Bleeker Street. Being a sorceress, with your unfortunate connection to Dormammu and the dark realm, had better be worth dealing with Wong’s strict training regime.  You still couldn’t believe the _week_ you had spent hunting down a particularly _nasty_ poltergeist with the Doctor had been an _easy_ week, particularly because you were so tired you slept for _two days_ afterwards.

Still, nothing was as bad as days like _this_.  Days when you were curled up in a pitiful ball on your bed staring at your laptop screen as you binged on _2 Broke Girls,_ _Don’t Trust The B In Apt. 23, Friends_ , and _How I Met Your Mother._   The only way you could dull the cramps was through a long series of healing spells and All Purpose Pamprin that always left you feeling droopy.  You were in a better mood, but you lacked the energy to do much of anything but lie there in a NASA t-shirt you _suspected_ you stole from Peter at some point and a pair of boxers you _knew_ you stole from him.  You could barely bring yourself to play any of the old favorite games you kept on your laptop, even point-and-click adventures like _The Longest Journey_ seemed to take too much energy.

Just like every month, you found yourself craving takeout from your favorite Mexican place and, just like every month since your first menstrual cycle, you immediately reached out to the one person that you _knew_ you could count on.  Years of boyfriends, and none of them had ever been nearly as reliable as Peter in your time of need.  You loved Peter…you just hadn’t figured out if it was a platonic love or something more quite yet.

He had figured it out, unbeknownst to you, as he shoved the bile of jealousy every time you went out with another guy.  He never felt like you were _using_ him, especially not when you stayed up until the early hours of the morning just to use your healing magic when he came limping back after a long night as Spider-Man, but it was still frustrating.

_“Peter, you have a new message,”_ Karen rang through his suit, immediately bringing your text up onto the display.  She normally asked if he wanted to see the message immediately or later, but she quickly figured out – only about a month after her activation – that Peter always wanted to see your messages.

_El Sabor Rico_ _please.  The usual <3 <3 <3_

He couldn’t help but smile at the little hearts, you always put an unnecessary amount of hearts at the end of your texts when you asked for things.

_“Should I tell her you’re picking it up now?”_

“Yeah, thanks Karen,” Peter replied, making his way back to the rooftop where he’d stashed a change of clothes.  He quickly changed, shoving his suit into his old backpack before sneaking his way back down to ground level as he called _El Sabor Rico_.  He’d placed so many orders there within the first few months after finding it that they recognized him every time he called to place an order or walked through the door.  It only took a few more months for them to start remembering the usual orders, they did have a lot of customers, but they remembered.

He picked up a few extra things on the way.  He hadn’t needed to pick up a box of tampons or any Pamprin last month, so you were probably running low, and he picked up twice as many gummi worms because you were bound to steal a few.  After one quick stop at May’s to pick up something Peter _knew_ you’d love, he picked up the food and made his way back home.

Peter carried the bag of food and bag of necessities up the stairs to your shared apartment, spotting Ned passed out on the couch still in his work uniform – he had been working doubles every day for the past week and finally had a day off.  Peter very quietly placed Ned’s usual order on the coffee table, he wasn’t about to wake up his other best friend, before making his way to your room.

There you were, looking adorable with no makeup wearing your black wide-frame glasses because you couldn’t be bothered with your contacts and your hair in a disaster of a top-knot, curled up in a ball as your usual sit-com marathon played on your laptop.  You perked up when you heard the door open and close, wincing as your cramps flared when you moved and your sulky little pout returned.

“I got everything you need,” Peter held up the bag he’d picked up from the convenience store before placing it right by the full-sized mattress that laid on the floor – you didn’t have the money for a bed frame – and sat the food right next to it, “And I got your food.”

“Yessss,” you cheered to yourself as you started digging into the paper bag of food, separating what was yours and what was Peter’s before grabbing the plastic utensils in the bag, “You’re the _best_.”

“And I got a heating pad from Aunt May for-“

“ _Gimme!”_   Your attention was immediately ripped away from the food as you reached up for the paper bag containing the old heating pad, yours had broken and you didn’t have time to replace it.  It took you a total of thirty seconds to plug the old brown pad in before placing it directly against your cramps at your lower back.  It was going to take a bit to heat up – they always did – but the moment it did you were practically purring in contentment as you sat against the wall of pillows you had lining the wall behind your mattress.

Peter sat with you on your mattress, and laughed when you inevitably stole a few of his gummi worms.  When you were younger, he’d just given you your own bag and quickly realized it wasn’t the same.  So, he bought extra and let you steal from him.  As you contently curled up and leaned against him after finishing your food, he couldn’t help but smile as he watched you out of the corner of his eye.  Just like every month, memories of his best times with you would flash through his mind.

There was every single time he’d come home from a long-distance mission, you’d make cliché _welcome home_ signs and cram yourself, Ned, MJ, and Aunt May into May’s car, along with all the signs you made and drive to the Avenger’s Compound and wait with a big grin.  It was so stupid, it was the Avenger’s Compound, not an airport, and you were _always_ going to be the only family waiting there, but you did it anyway.  Sam tried to make a joke about it _once,_ but Natasha immediately sucker punched him and snapped at him that it was cute and he was just jealous.

Then there were the shopping trips at one in the morning with all your friends, or the times the two of you would go in the middle of the day and you’d always end up in the shopping cart as you read off the list.  There were your fierce _Mario Kart_ battles with MJ, the four of you were playing but you and MJ were the most competitive of the group.  There was the time he brought you as his date to Tony and Pepper’s wedding, or the one Homecoming neither of you had a date – though you were normally the one that had a date – and you dashed outside to dance in the sudden downpour.  There was Prom, when you decided you’d rather go as pairs within your group of friends, MJ and Ned going together while you and Peter went together.

_God_ he was smitten, and he _knew_ it too.  Tony’s voice rang through Peter’s head, his mentor having given him this piece of wisdom years ago, ‘ _You’re in trouble when you’re smitten and don’t know, but you’re simply doomed when you’re in so deep that even you notice it._ ’

“What would you say if a friend said he loved you?”  It was a risky question, and pretty obviously outed his feelings for you.  Still, it would lead to you having an easy way to let him down.  You had to let him down.  Childhood friends falling for each other was just some kind of cliché that happened in teen romance novels or TV shows.  You couldn’t…it’s not like you were a civilian who would be starstruck over him being Spider-Man.  You were a sorceress, one that Dr. Strange predicted would be far stronger than _him_ once you finished your training, and you shared blood with an entity that ruled an _entire dimension._   Peter wasn’t going to pretend he knew what Dormammu was, magic was so far out of his realm he only understood the most basic parts of it when you used Astrophysics and Theoretical Physics to explain it, but Peter _did_ know that Dr. Strange said there was no winning against Dormammu in a straight-up fight.

Peter was just counting on the chance that you’d have feelings for just him, the dork you’d been best friends with since you were children and teased about the fact he found himself with spider-based powers and – instead of making a weapon that made sense – he decided to make web shooters and go as far into the spider thing as possible without growing extra eyes or limbs.

“Depends on the friend, but I think I’d start with how long he’s known,” you answered calmly, softly, and snatched a gummy worm from the pack.  You were looking at the screen of your laptop, but you weren’t looking anymore.

“Okay…so…what about a friend that’s felt that way since sophomore year, but didn’t realize it until junior year.”  That much was true.  He still remembered catching you from your death in the Washington Monument, your still untrained abilities dancing from your hand to his in violet sparks that, while they tingled, caused no pain.  He couldn’t help but gently speak to you as he promised you were alright, promised he wouldn’t let anything happen to you, and almost slipped and used your name.  It took him a while to figure out why the mere thought of you in danger and helpless, without him there to protect you, left his heart thudding so hard he could hear it in his ears.  He did figure it out, though, and by then you were already dating someone else.

He just grew used to keeping his feelings to himself, as he’d much rather remain close friends than risk losing you.  Now he just…he wanted you to know, even if it meant a few awkward weeks before going back to how things were before he made them awkward.

“Then I’d ask what in the hell took him so long to say something?  It’s not like he’s good at hiding it, and maybe I was sitting around and waiting for him to recognize how he felt so I didn’t scare him off.”

“So…so you’d be up for a date?”

You shrugged and sulked a little as you changed positions to get the heating pad where you needed it.

“Next Saturday, Coney Island, you owe me blue cotton candy and a hot dog for making me think you didn’t know about your feelings cause otherwise we’d be asked why we’re not married.  Seriously, I thought it only happened like last year, I was dating those other guys cause I thought you didn’t have any feelings for me.”  It was bossy, full of sass, probably the exact opposite of romantic, and served as a reminder of the many reasons Peter loved you.

He loved you, he would always love you, and the amount of time you’d be together would never change just how smitten he was with you.


End file.
